District 65 Admin Settles Case with Gary Community Schools for $67,500

Plus a small update in the Deemar vs District 65 Case

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District 65 Assistant Superintendent of Safety, Operations, and Athletics, Terrance Little, sued Gary Community Schools for gender and race discrimination. This story was first reported in the Chicago Tribune in 2021: Former Gary school official alleges gender, race discrimination in lawsuit against district.

You can read his original complaint, which include allegations he was isolated to a 20-40 ft portion of the warehouse and an odd allegation about being fired for moving books (??)

a. Plaintiff’s office was taken from him without notice. When Plaintiff questioned why he no longer had an office and where he was supposed to go no one would give him any direction.

b. Plaintiff no longer has an assistant even though he is performing four different jobs.

c. Plaintiff’s contract renewal no longer includes a bonus.

d. Plaintiff has not received his 2019 bonus.

e. Plaintiff’s job duties have significantly changed. Plaintiff was hired as the CAO, then he was told to substitute at two different elementary schools. However, no one ever informed Plaintiff he was losing his job. Now, Plaintiff’s job has changed a third time and he is now doing four different jobs.

f. Plaintiff was told that he could not go to the other side of the building and Plaintiff had to remain in the 20 – 40 foot portion of the building.

g. Plaintiff was told to move books in the schools garage by the Custodian and by Defendant’s Deputy Superintendent. Plaintiff went to the garage and to inspect and Defendant’s Emergency Manager told Plaintiff that Defendant’s Deputy Superintendent did not tell him to move the books, even though she did. Plaintiff had never be written up, but he was immediately suspended for doing his job.

Gary Community Schools denied the allegations and you can read their response.

The case was settled in April 2023 for $67,500 with Mr. Little receiving $40,500 and his attorney $27,000. You can read the settlement agreement obtained via FOIA Request.

In 2011, Mr. Little was Principal at Wendell Phillips Academy in CPS while Dr. Horton was Vice Principal. Phillips Academy was an Academy of Urban School Leadership (AUSL) school, something I have written about previously. The New York Times also wrote about Mr. Little and AUSL in a 2011 story: U.S. Plan to Replace Principals Hits Snag: Who Will Step In?

Regarding this case, I reached out to Mr. Little and his attorney and received no response as of 8/21. Gary Community Schools “declined to comment on personnel matters."

Legal Update 2: Deemar vs District 65

In other legal news, after the Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action, Students for Fair Admission vs Harvard, the conservative legal group representing Ms. Deemar filed a brief on the case. They argue that the decision is relevant to their case and copy pasted the 238 page legal decision. The District replied arguing that the case is not relevant.

I’ve written about this case previously and accidentally unpublished the post, however you can still read the complaint here. It is worth noting that many of the professional development sessions detailed in the lawsuit are from the Pacific Education Group, a vendor I have detailed that District 65 and ETHS spent more than a million dollars on, not including the costs of the litigating this case.